Headlininâ: 11/27/17
Weâre having a huge sale today, so please go check that out! Seriously guys, this is the biggest one weâve ever done. Go get it! :D Alrighty, on to this weekâs main story...
MUCH ADO ABOUT DOGEN
Iâd like to talk about balls. No, not the sports ones. The kind that are metaphorical, the kind that you have when you stand up for whatâs right in the face of intense opposition. I mean, think about it: thereâs stuff that takes courage, and thereâs stuff that takes balls. Asking someone out to prom? Courage. Telling a Firefly fan to let it go, since Fox canceled their show fifteen years ago? Thatâs courage with a little bit of balls. Standing up to the bully ten times your size? Thatâs balls.Â
Bringing your baby to work with you when youâre a politician in one of the most male-dominated societies in the world? Thatâs more balls than youâll find at a basketball tournament. [Washington Post]
Image courtesy Asahi Shimbun/Getty Images
Just look at this picture. Words fail me. Here, check out the video:
This is Kumamoto City Representative and certified bad ass mama Ogata Yuka and her son Dogen, who has a very nice hairstyle going for someone whoâs only seven months old. She made the âmistakeâ of bringing her son to work with her, which resulted in many male members of the chamber crowding around her and demanding she leave - with some of them even demanding she apologize for doing so (even though Dogen was being a good boy and not making any noise).
According to her official bio, Ogata is a graduate of the Tokyo University of Foreign Studies and holds a graduate degree from George Mason University in Virginia. Sheâs also worked as a program officer with the UNâs Development Program in Yemen, which I imagine is not the UNâs easiest mission. After moving back to her hometown, Ogata became interested in local politics and ran on a campaign emphasizing support for working mothers, traffic/pedestrian safety, public health and welfare, and promoting tourism to Kumamoto. [Editorâs note: weâre working on a tour pitch or two, Ogata-shigi!- Team PacSet]
Fun fact: Ogata was elected when her first child was just 1 year old, and the day she brought Dogen to work was her first day back from maternity leave. Now personally, I would have appreciated a âWelcome Backâ cake, a balloon bouquet... maybe some of Kumamotoâs famous Ikinari Dango* with a nice message written on it? Like this?
But hey, I guess a bunch of old dudes being rude is kind of like a welcome. I mean, isnât that how the bullies welcome the nerds back to class in all of those teen movies? Sorry, I digress.
Although child care is provided in municipal assemblies in Kyoto and Akita (as the WaPo points out), Kumamotoâs model male citizens decided to get their pantsu in a bunch over this, eventually forcing Ogata to leave Dogen in the care of a friend before returning to the chamber.Â
In a statement, Ogata said that she wanted to bring attention to the tough conditions facing working women in Japan. Sheâs not wrong; numerous [Bloomberg/Benchmark] articles [Japan Times] have been written about Japanâs shortage in adequate day care facilities and how hard it is for women in the workforce. In fact, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has cited making the working world more friendly to women a priority, since Japanâs birthrate is declining and the benefits of being a mother are not all that attractive if you want to have a career/support a family in Japan. However, apparently Abe forgot to mention this to fellow LDP member and âguy at the pachinko parlorâ Haraguchi Ryoji, who said that Ogata could be âsubject to punishment for disturbing the chamber over a personal reason.â [Mainichi Shimbun] Which I guess I understand... I mean, I bet no one in the LDP has ever been in a scandal for personal reasons, right? (Fun game: Google âLDP Scandalsâ and see how many you can find in 10 minutes!)
The truth is that there is still a cultural stigma against working mothers in many social circles in Japan. Not too long ago, having a baby meant a women would leave work altogether and focus their entire lives on child rearing. Even today, mothers that go against the grain are often harassed by other mothers and people who arenât parents at all but have so many opinions. Which is probably one of the reasons why Japanâs fleet of online trolls have since invaded Ogataâs Facebook page and are tweeting nasty replies to English language stories about her. Nice of them, isnât it?Â
Regardless, we hope that Ogata-shigi keeps fighting for working women, that we are able to create the best Kumamoto tour EVER, and that Dogen can keep that clean, awesome looking hair forever. <3 Speaking of clean...
IâLL HAVE A WASH AND DRY WITH THAT YAKITORI
If you have traveled with us, you know how tough it can be to find coin laundromats in Japan sometimes. Fortunately, the effort to make them more common just got a massive (and I mean massive) push from a somewhat surprising source: convenience store (conbini) chain Family Mart. (LINE NEWS)
Thatâs right - one of Japanâs biggest conbini chains, the place where you get a meat bun when youâre hungry, a manga volume when youâre bored, and a Pocari Sweat when youâre drunk, is installing coin laundry! According to an official statement, the company is planning on rolling out the service quickly, with laundry popping up in at least 500 locations by the end of 2019. [Family Mart]
Iâll level with you guys: Iâm trying to think of a negative angle to this story, and you know... there just isnât one. The thought of being able to wash my clothes during FanFest while eating a lemon ice, buying breakfast onigiri for the next morning, and browsing the latest Shonen Sunday? What did I do to deserve this kind of joy?!?!?!?!
The best part? Because the competition between conbini chains in Japan is such a bloodbath, it probably wonât be too long before Lawson or Seven Eleven decides to try out Coin Laundry as well. Japan in the summer is all kinds of humid - keeping it clean is a concept I can definitely get behind.
TAKA IS NOT [ONE] OK [ROCK] WITH SMAP... KINDA
One guy isnât keeping it clean this week in the world of gossip; ONE OK ROCK front man Taka sent shockwaves across the Japanese interwebs this weekend when he dissed recently disbanded J-Pop royalty SMAP during an appearance on Super Beaver singer Shibuya Ryuutaâs radio show late Thursday night. Although both of their bands specialize in rock and not the kind of J-Pop sound SMAP embodies, the two were discussing which song from the band they like most. Takaâs selection? SMAPâs 1993 single âTen Dollarsâ:
This is a somewhat deep cut from the SMAP catalogue; itâs from when the group still had six members, and it wasnât nearly as popular as SMAPâs turn-of-the-millenia hits Lionheart and Sekai ni Hitotsu Dake no Everyone in Japan has heard this song twenty million times oh god please make it stop**.Â
After the song played, Taka voiced a sentiment that many indie rockers, rappers, and artists in Japan have long thought but always been scared to say. SMAP is... eh. From the manâs own mouth: [Model Press]
âActually, I hate them, really. I hate SMAP. Theyâre like Japanâs national group,â said Taka. Heâs not exactly wrong; SMAPâs TV show was one of the view where western stars appeared regularly, and even Eric Clapton wrote a song for them. Yes, ERIC CLAPTON. Taka, probably realizing that the internet could twist such a comment out of control quickly, added: âNo matter which group youâre in, whether youâre an idol, a superstar... weâre all just human... Being in a group like that shouldnât be your WHOLE life - thatâs tiring. So when I heard SMAP was disbanding, I was thinking, âWow, they really worked hard to come this far...ââ I canât help but agree with Taka myself; to have a group be your entire life until youâre alone again - thatâs truly a Mighty Long Fall.
Takaâs comments were also a reflection of the publicâs sadness when SMAP disbanded - so much so that many thought the group should keep going. Indeed, artists in Japan that are popular are expected to devote their lives to their work to a degree that many in the west would consider horrifying (just ask any former idol star... ugh). For what itâs worth, many on Twitter and message boards in Japan agreed with Taka on this point.Â
Now if some of those nice, sympathetic folks would go help support Ogata Yuka... that would be awesome.Â
NOTE: Iâm off on Japan Holiday next week, so this column will be on hiatus. Weâll be back in a few weeks with more goodies. Until then, be lovely to each other!
*About the Dango: The popular YouTube series Cooking With Dog (RIP, Francis ;_;) actually did a segment on how to make Ikinari Dango; check it out! We miss you, Francis the Dog... <3
**title edited for accuracy















